RokuNana, a new two-level sushi and cocktail spot, has quietly slipped onto the Lower East Side, pairing a bright, lively izakaya downstairs with a secretive, Renaissance-leaning cocktail lounge tucked away upstairs. The team leans on Japanese technique while layering in cross-cultural touches, all aimed at keeping the neighborhood’s late-night crowd hanging around long after the last roll hits the table.
Speaking with WhatNow, owner Aric Ao described RokuNana as a deliberate dual concept, split between a high-energy dining room and a quieter speakeasy-style bar. The menu is built to mirror that split, intentionally mixing Japanese and Mexican influences. Ao, who recounted his climb from busser to founder, told the outlet that the focus for now is consistency and execution, even as the team keeps an eye on potential future growth.
A vaulted hideaway
The building’s past life as a bank ended up shaping the speakeasy idea. The space still holds its original vault door, a detail the owners leaned into when imagining the upstairs bar. The lounge, branded “Nana,” is described as an intimate room of roughly 1,100 square feet, outfitted with plush seating, sculptural accents and a Venus mural, according to a press release from GlobeNewswire.
Food and cocktails
On the ground floor, RokuNana centers its menu on sushi and izakaya-style small plates, including signature rolls, crispy rice and a warming tonkatsu ramen. Upstairs, the bar leans into Japanese spirits and seasonal techniques. The restaurant’s site highlights its best sellers and reservation options, while the bar’s menu promises inventive drinks built with yuzu, shochu, hojicha and Japanese whisky, with offerings like a Hojicha Boulevardier and a Multi-Sensory Martini. As outlined on Nana, the two floors are framed as complementary but distinct experiences.
Where it fits
RokuNana’s debut lands in the middle of a steady wave of openings and late-night experiments on the Lower East Side, where chefs and bar teams have been rolling out intimate concepts this season. Coverage of the city’s newest restaurants points to a clear appetite for small-format spots that marry tight, focused dining programs with ambitious cocktail lists, which helps explain RokuNana’s dual-identity play. Reporting and heat maps from Eater place these kinds of hybrid spaces among Manhattan’s most notable new arrivals in early 2026.
Early support from neighbors and curious walk-ins has helped smooth some of the usual opening jitters, WhatNow reports. RokuNana is taking reservations through its own site and a third-party booking platform, as noted on RokuNana, and the team says it plans to prioritize consistency before sketching out any expansion plans. For now, the two-level setup adds one more late-night option for sushi and cocktails on the Lower East Side.
